Eureka girls manhandle Plains, 47-6

The Daily Inter Lake

EUREKA - Mercifully, this one ended with at least Plains scoring.

Eureka held Plains scoreless for the first half, the 40-point mercy rule took effect on Eureka's first field goal of the second half, and the Lions rolled to a 47-6 District 7B girls basketball victory Saturday afternoon.

Eureka led 38-0 at the break.

"I have not," Eureka coach John Hammond said when asked of ever seeing a team go scoreless through two quarters.

"Different ones came up after the game and said they hadn't either."

Hammond's daughter, Carly, who plays guard for the Lions, asked John at halftime if he had cellophaned the rim on Plains' end of the court.

"We didn't do a lot of things wrong in the first half," he said.

"It was something special, something you don't see very often.

"We shut down everything they ran at us," he continued. "We pressed early on, then backed off in the second quarter."

Hammond said he expected a 15-20 point game.

Eureka improves to 3-0 in league play, 3-4 overall. Plains slips to 0-2, 2-6.

Steph Vogelman had another strong offensive showing for Eureka with 17 points.

Mariah Newell led the Lions in steals with six.

Tayler Holder and Auna Lawler had five and four assists, respectively, for Eureka.

Plains scored 32 points in a losing effort Thursday at Bigfork. The Valkyries tallied 46.

Plains 0 0 5 1 - 6

Eureka 18 20 5 4 - 47

Plains - Lacey Hermiston 2, Heather Earhart 4.

Eureka - Cami Stacy 6, Tayler Holder 5, Kayci West 3, Auna Lawler 9, Steph Vogelman 17, Mariah Newell 7.

Columbia Falls 55,

Polson 40

Columbia Falls - Columbia Falls never trailed in downing Polson in Northwestern A play.

The Wildkats improve to 2-0 in league, 3-4 overall.

Kayla DeWit tallied 17 points for the victors. Alyssa Ladenburg and Kelsey DeWit were next with 11 each.

Amanda James tallied 14 for Polson.

Polson 9 11 11 9 - 40

Columbia Falls 12 19 13 11 - 55

Polson - Amanda James 14, Sierra Pete 11, Breanne Kelley 3, Rochel Woods 3, Riley Kenney 1, Nicole Davey 4, Sarah Newton 2, Cali Hislop 2.

Columbia Falls - McKenzie Reeve 2, Brook Cady 6, Kayla DeWit 17, Alyssa Ladenburg 11, Shay Grilley 8, Kelsey DeWit 11.

Libby 49, Ronan 23

LIBBY - Jackie Mee scored 21, all in the first three periods, as Libby whipped Ronan in Northwestern A play.

Libby outscored the Maidens 20-8 in the final frame.

Brittany Martin scored 12 points for Libby, 10 coming in the fourth quarter.

Ronan 4 7 4 8 - 23

Libby 10 8 11 20 - 49

RONAN - Cheff 2, Larson 4, Strozzi 4, Starkel 6, Michael 2, Belgaride 5.

LIBBY - Brittany Martin 12, Jaime Gilder 9, Logan Best 6, Jackie Mee 21, Ashley Shaw 1.

Boys

Libby 57, Ronan 44

LIBBY - Conner Benson and Joel Fuller combined for 32 points as Libby rolled over Ronan.

Benson finished with 18 to lead all scorers. Fuller came through with 14.

Libby improves to 2-1 in Northwestern A, 5-2 overall. Ronan slips to 0-2 and 4-2.

Mike Fisher and Nate Harris both had 10 points for Ronan.

Ronan 6 16 5 17 - 44

Libby 13 11 9 24 - 57

RONAN - Mike Fisher 10, Dallas Cordier 5, Justin Dustybull 1, Eddie Ness 3, Jay Sorrell 3, Nate Harris 10, Kyle Hendrickx 8, Gordon North Piegan 4.

LIBBY - Conner Benson 18, TJ Benson 4, Kelly May 8, Joel Fuller 14, Colton Cannon 9, Alex Cislo 4.

Polson 62,

Columbia Falls 60

POLSON - Kyle Bagnell hit a 3 with 7 seconds left to push Polson in front 61-60, and Tim Rausch added a free throw with six seconds left as Polson, 3-0 and 5-2, pulled out another tight Northwestern A victory.

Mackey Nolan of Columbia Falls got a good look at the buzzer, but his shot from the free throw line rolled off the rim.

Nolan finished with 14 points. Grant Getts paced Columbia Falls with 15.

Polson tripped Ronan 50-48 on Friday at home with Ryan Kelley's 10-footer with 15 seconds remaining.

Kelley and Bagnell both scored 14 against Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls 17 9 13 15 - 60

Polson 12 17 13 20 - 62

Columbia Falls - Kyle Howell 10, Mackey Nolan 14, Austin Robbins 8, Austin Barth 2, Mitchell Wassam 4, Grant Getts 15, Michael Williams 7.

Polson - Craig Bagnell 3, Kyle Bagnell 14, Willie Michel 6, Tim Rausch 9, Ryan Kelley 14, Lewis Mohr 4, Derrick Rathe 2, Sheldon Fisher 10.

Glacier 70, Bigfork 46

BIGFORK - Glacier doubled the score on Bigfork in the final quarter to pick up a nonconference victory.

Ben Cutler tossed in 29 points for Glacier, 5-1 overall. The Wolfpack is riding a five-game winning streak.

Brock Boll recorded another double-double for Bigfork, 0-5, with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Scott Taylor led with 15 boards.

Glacier 15 19 11 25 - 70

Bigfork 9 9 16 12 - 46

GLACIER - Josh Doty 1 0-0 3, Connor Fuller 1 2-6 4, Colter Hanson 0 1-2 1, Shay Smithwick-Hann 3 2-4 8, Mike Rasmussen 6 1-3 13, Ben Cutler 13 2-6 29, Cody Grosswiler 3 0-0 6, Ben Sansaver 3 0-3 6. Totals: 30 8-24 70.

BIGFORK - Lael Richmond 0 1-3 1, Garrett Pewe 1 0-2 2, Zac Hansen 0 0-2 0, Brock Boll 7 1-1 15, Jake Milner 3 6-11 12, Scott Taylor 3 2-7 8, Keenan Evans 1 0-0 2, Donny Tudahl 1 1-2 3, Travis Knoll 0 0-2 0. Totals: 16 11-30 46.

3-point goals: Doty, Cutler; Team fouls: Glacier 27, Bigfork 22; Fouled out: Grosswiler, Rasmussen; Taylor.

Plains 61, Eureka 42

Brian Green scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the second quarter as Plains downed Eureka in a District 7B contest.

Plains jumped in front 18-8 and 37-22 after the first two periods.

Marcus Pluid had 11 points for Eureka, 1-2 league and 1-6 overall.

Plains 18 19 17 7 - 61

Eureka 8 14 8 13 - 42

PLAINS - Brian Green 23, Dillon Fryxell 7, Ben Holland 3, Mitch Thompson 9, Connor Ballantyne 2, Trent Thompson 17.

EUREKA - Kade Davis 6, Jesse Thomson 6, Tanner Peterson 1, Ryan Holder 10, Ben Dechart 5, Caleb Curtis 4, Marcus Pluid 11.